Look in the mirror.

Whatever you do, do you look in the mirror, even just in passing, and check how you look?

I’m betting you do.

I do, it’s the first thing I do when I get up, before I’ve washed, dressed, eaten or brushed my hair.

So naturally I look awful tired eyes and messy hair. so why do I do it? Why do you do it?

It’s something we all do, we all care how we look. Even when we say it doesn’t matter, and we shouldn’t care, we do. We all care what we wear, we all do our hair a certain way, we all wash and make sure we’re clean. And just doing this means you do care.

I care, I look at myself every morning and think how terrible I look, but lately I’ve started looking twice. Take one look in the mirror and see all the things you hate about yourself, then turn back and take another look. See all the things that make you beautiful, all the things that are wonderful. Dismiss the bad things, ignore that spot or the way your hair is knotting.

I have a challenge for you.

Every time you look in a mirror, take two seconds, that’s all it takes, to appreciate the things that make you beautiful. Look at yourself the way others would, not people who are judging you, the people who think you’re amazing. Ignore everything you dislike and focus on something you like.

And if you can do that, if you can look at all the good things, then you will be happier, promise. I am.

I am old, 40, and I have been doing this for about 20 years. It’s really confronting at first isn’t it, to look beyond what we first see and really appreciate our beauty.

But I think it’s really important to not be self critical, in life there are always people ready to criticise, first to thine own self be true, and finding your true self by looking in the mirror is a great place to start.